Kate of Syberia
by thehush
Summary: After the events of Syberia II, Kate Walker must make her way back from the island of Syberia. Even with a new lease on life, Kate ventures back to Valadilène unsure of her future or where she belongs in the world.
1. Prologue Syberia

**"Kate of Syberia" by Erin**

Prologue

_Always follow dreams, Kate Walker._

Hans Voralberg was dead, and Kate could still hear the song of the mammoth drifting from Syberia as she lay frozen in her cot of wood and bone. The body of her best friend and companion lay above her, wrapped in nothing but the metal of his creation. He had died happy and fulfilled – she hoped she would too, if the cold was any sign of her fate.

Youki lay curled up next to her, radiating the heat that kept her going just enough to keep her eyes open. His seal-bear face pouted at her, blue eyes drooping as much as hers were. They were both tired; too tired to care about the voyage back to the Youkol Village.

Kate's eyes shut and Youki whimpered, nudging her. She muttered reassuringly, even though she wasn't feeling all that confident. "D-don't worry, You-you-ki. Current- the current, will take us-" she buried her face into the white animal's fur and shivered, pulling all the blankets tighter.

She fell asleep breathing in the animal's body heat.

_I am really very pleased to have met you. It was really a very beautiful voyage. Now it is time to say farewell..._


	2. Chapter 1 Youkol Village, Siberia

**Kate of Syberia**

**Chapter 1**

It was warm, that's all that mattered. The warmth brought on dreams of memories she never really had. Of big breakfasts with old Russian soldiers and long evenings around stone hearths spinning vodka inspired stories. Her own adventure was made into an epic that seemed to be told by old women over their daughter's beds. As though she had long passed and her trail through Siberia was a legend in its own right.

Between visions of snow covered villages and a busy Valdaline, a taste filled her senses, bringing her dizzily to a layer of her thoughts she had been avoiding. A vault filled with papers called to her. It was a gruff voice filled with the promise of long explanations and a decision that began to show above her head, hanging like a guillotine.

_People like you, Miss Walker, never end up going home._

* * *

_May 21 - Youkol Village, Siberia_

"Kate Walker! Stop sleeping! Tooktoot!"

Something hollow and hard hit Kate's foot as she came to. She couldn't focus for what felt like ages, but the familiarity of the voice and the feel of furs brought her flailing and gasping up from the bed of a Youkol home. Looking down at her was a short old woman with a smiling face. A brown hood trimmed with fur hid most of her white hair, but seemed to amplify the wrinkles that adorned her features.

The Spirit woman laughed, patting Kate's exposed leg. "Come, come, Dreamer. Dress, the village awaits."

As the little woman started for the blanketed doorway, Kate stood, pulling on her clothes quickly. "Shaman, wait! How did I-"

The Shamaness laughed again, waving her question away. "Youki friend. You both slept through journey! Like long winter! With the warmth of each other."

Kate strained to remember the moment she realized she couldn't stay awake, but it wouldn't come to her. Instead she zipped up her Tundra clothes and sleepily followed after the Shamaness.

Outside they were greeted with the smell of fish and a stew that instantly warmed the pit of her stomach just by looking at it. In a cleared area across the chiseled rock of the underground cave, the Youkol villagers were gathered around the warmth of a large bonfire. A browning red stained the lighter rock around the pit, the familiar bones and fur of a mammoth piled high for later building, while the meat she realized was being cooked or packed away in the ice caves for later. Some villagers had wooden bowls filled with a steaming stew of mammoth beef, their bone spoons looking as worn as their clothes, while others were working on skewers of fish. Kate couldn't help but worry for their future suddenly - but they were happy, and that made their smiles contagious.

Giving up on staying close to the Shamness, Kate let herself settle in with the other Youkols around the fire. Even though she was hungry, she tried her best not to appear so. Everything was so warm and inviting, from the fur-covered stones they sat on to the unrecognizable words that lifted up around her. It helped when the chief appeared in front of her, slipping more meat into her bowl.

"Eat! Eat! Kate. You are…" he searched for an English phrase but grumbled in frustration after a moment. "You are nothing but bones."

Kate laughed into her bowl of stew. "Sorry, I guess I haven't been eating all that much."

Several tribe members listening agreed in their own language, the Chief translating. "They say that you are welcome to eat as much as you can." He motioned around the fire at everyone talking and eating and smiled again, taking a seat beside her on the smoothed stone. "This is all for you and your friend."

She forced herself to swallow a big bite of stew, almost choking herself. "Why? I mean, we didn't do anything for you."

Again, the older man smiled, almost all knowingly. "Good deeds and long journeys, ending and beginning, should always be celebrated." The chief tribesman reached out with his small hand and grazed her head, as if comforting a child. "You have done well."

With that he stood again and filtered back into the mingling group, leaving Kate to feel as lost as she had a month ago.

It was very late in the evening by the time the festivities had ended. Kate had eaten too much stew; mammoth, reindeer and fish meat duking it out in her stomach; and was happy to finally get back to her bed. She couldn't find it in herself to sleep, the chief's earlier comments still making her feel uneasy about what lay ahead for her. All she knew about the future was that she wanted to sleep.

The rustle of the heavy curtain blocking the doorway to her tent barely made her want to roll over as she could hear the Shamaness come in. "You should sleep, Dreamer. Your next journey is long."

She knew it was silly to ask the other woman how she knew she wasn't sleeping. The woman had already proven to her that she was simply an extraordinary human being. Rolling over, Kate watched as the Shamaness took a seat beside her and welcomed the conversation with a smile.

"I don't know if I want to go home." Truthfully, she didn't think she could even handle New York anymore – not after all her traveling. Not after Hans. Something didn't feel right anymore about her old life. A part of her didn't want that comfort of knowing people were handling her problems for her. _Was New York ever really home?_

The Shaman's hand reached out and grazed her head, much like the chief's had. "Only Kate can say where is home." The hand pulled away, and Kate felt a little better. "Bury friend, then maybe home will be clear."

"Bury…" Kate suddenly remembered that she had brought Hans' body back with her on the boat. "I can't believe I forgot…" She rubbed her face, still aching a bit with the cold. "I had planned on taking him back to his family tomb in Valadilène… I guess that's what I'll do before I figure out what happens next."

"You may find, that two journeys are one, Dreamer." The Shamaness stood and started to leave the tent before poking her head back in. "Sleep. Tomorrow will be long."

Kate nodded, finally feeling herself grow sleepy. _Tomorrow, I leave._

* * *

_May 22_

Unlike her first evening back in the Youkol village, Kate woke early and without any help from the Shamaness. She dressed and packed the handmade bag a woman in the village had made for her in case she did in fact return safely. She didn't have much of anything to fill it with, except a few small things from her travels that still stuffed her various pockets and the ratty contract that had started all this. The village however had supplied her with enough rations to get her to Romansbourg and a little extra in case the tracks became too icy to continue.

The flap to her hut rustled. "Hurry, Kate. The sun is your only friend on land this day."

The Shamaness attempted to throw a heavier coat the villagers wore over Kate's shoulders, but it barely made it halfway up her back. Slipping into the heavy coat, Kate could smell the familiar burnt herbs the Shamaness had used to induce Hans' dream. It didn't bother her as badly as she thought it would, not even when it full enveloped her as she pulled the fur-lined hood over her head. Her bag in one hand, she started out of the hut after the Shamaness left her to finish. She was met with the sites and sounds of an excited Youki and a crowd of villagers off in the distance. Everyone that could fill the train platform did so, talking eagerly in their own language. Heeding the Shamaness' warning about time, Kate carefully jogged across the icy stone of the cave and climbed the stairs that lead up to the platform. The rumble of gibberish raised to a dull roar as the villagers, she decided, were wishing her a safe journey as the Chief and Shamaness met her at the train's engine.

"Thank you for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you or your people." Kate reached down and scratched Youki behind the ear as he calmed, waiting as patiently as he could.

The Chief motioned for her to kneel down. Doing so, she found not only the older man slipping something over her head, but also the Shamaness. Kate looked down to realize they had given her two aged necklaces, one a pendant of an ivory mammoth and the other an amulet of the Harfang. A small hand suddenly held Kate's head in place as foreign words spilled out of the elder woman's mouth. This time her prayers weren't sealed with burning herbs, only the radiating smell of the coat keeping her warm. When the hand moved away, she stood and hugged the Shamaness tightly before embracing the Chief as well.

"There is water in train and a water skin. The metal wheel was turned so to make train go." The chief informed her, only after composing himself post-hug. "Safe journey, Kate Walker."

Climbing into the train engine, Kate did her best to quickly remember how to make the train start and move backwards. Everything slowly came to life; the machine not used to the rough winding the village men had given it without a proper tool. After a few minutes, steam rose up into the cavern, the train jolting back and moving slowly towards the cave's exit. Youki yelped, but stayed put in the engine's compartment. He was along for the ride and Kate was sure she would never get rid of him. Confident that Youki was safe, she leaned halfway out of the engine doorway and waved to everyone as the train began backing out.

"Uh… may your bowls never be empty!" Kate ducked back into the train as the village called after her with their well wishes and goodbyes.

As the train left the mouth of the cave, Kate hoped the sky would be clear and the sun constantly overhead – at least until Romansbourg.


	3. Chapter 2 Romansbourg, Russia

_Kate of Syberia _by Erin

**Chapter 2**

_May 24 - Outside Romansbourg, Russia_

The smell of salmon and cider woke Kate to the warmth surrounding her. Through sleep blurred eyes, she found herself wrapped tight in furs and thick, old blankets. Youki lay curled up beside her, his breath smelling of fish and some other dried meat.

"Ah, сладкий горох*, my dear Kate. Welcome back to the land of the living." A familiar Russian voice greeted her from somewhere on the other side of the room.

"Boris?" Kate weakly struggled against the warmth wrapping her. "Boris is that you?" She pushed at the layers to loosen them and blinked her eyes hard until they cleared to see the man near her bed.

"Be careful, you were almost taken by Siberia herself." Boris helped her sit up. "You must be hungry."

She nodded, looking around at the suddenly familiar cabin. It seemed like it had been years since she last saw it. It looked as though Boris had taken it over and made it livable.

"I made it to the cabin…outside of Romansbourg…?" Kate coughed hard, clearing out the cold that was trying to catch her off guard.

"Barely." Boris laughed with a soft huff. "Your… polar bear… dog-"

"Youki." She offered.

"Your Youki, it brought me to you just outside Han's tracks. Just in time, I wager." He left her side briefly to pour her a mug of cider before returning. "You really are a miracle, ma'am."

"Just Kate, Boris, really." Kate took the cider gratefully, sipping it as fast as she could without burning her taste buds off. "And I'm not, er – a miracle. Just lucky I guess."

Again, he laughed, this time his thinning frame shuddering against the bed. "You are my lucky charm then. You found me twice and not only helped me fly, but saved me from becoming part of the architecture out in Tunguska – and here you are again! Except, I will admit, I was surprised you would be manning the train alone on your way back."

Kate stopped drinking, suddenly aware that Hans was not there – and his body was outside in the cold. She had to rationalize with herself, remembering it would keep longer if it stayed outside in the cargo hatch instead of in the cabin.

"Hans is dead." She didn't look away at the pain that drifted into Boris' face. "And, in a way, so is Oscar." Suddenly, tears began to push at the space behind Kate's eyes, causing them to burn. "It's so good to see you again, Boris."

His older face was a mixture of grief and acceptance. She was sure he could grasp that a dear friend, after so many years of being apart, would have passed by now, but it didn't make it any easier. Boris nodded at his own thoughts, visibly dragging his mind back to her.

"Where-"

Without so much as a warning knock, the door into the bedroom swung open and in stomped a stocky, black haired man in his thirties, red in the face from frustration. He looked ready to throw chairs.

"Okay lady, you're up now, so call your boss!" He threw her cellphone onto the bed and made a b-line away from Boris.

Her friend sighed. This sort of thing appeared to be completely normal. "Kate Walker, I introduce to you, Detective Nick Cantin. I found him-"

Nick interrupted. "The guys who came to bring supplies and fix the tracks won't leave for another week! That whole trash heap of a town is moving up to the… castle! So no one could spot me a room-" He huffed angrily, almost flailing at them. "Call Marson and get me the hell out of here, lady! I've been looking for you for weeks now!"

Kate ignored the phone beside her. "Why would Marson be looking for me? I thought he would have fired me after I turned off my phone in Aralbad."

"Hell no! He's got that toy company hounding him about the contract and your mother threatening to sue!" He walked away from the bed and pulled at his hair. "They're going to fire me for sure if I don't get back to my other cases!"

At the mention of her mother and the contract, Kate let her face rest in her hands. "Oh no, mom. She must think I've frozen to death in the middle of Siberia."

She picked up the cellphone to check its signal. It didn't even give her one bar for reassurance. She would have to find a plug to charge it anyway, so the call would have to wait until she reached Barrockstadt to call out.

Kate stretched and groaned, laying her hand on Boris' arm. "Help me up."

Boris bent down and pulled her up easily, supporting almost all of her weight. "There's a pot by the fire you can use if you need."

Kate blushed, chuckling. "You read my mind." She wobbled as she stepped away from the bed.

Nick groaned at their slow pace. "So are we going now, or what?"

"We go when Kate is better." Boris snapped at him. "Bother her and you'll be walking back to Valadilène."

"Hmph." Nick grunted, coming up beside Kate to get past them.

With Boris as her crutch, she shoved the detective as hard as she could before making her way out of the room. "Don't you ever go through my stuff again."

It was early morning when Kate woke again, Boris watching her from his place by the fire. He reached a hand out to her and she managed to climb out of the warm bed and plant herself on the arm rest. She could hardly believe she was seeing the man again, and a part of her swelled at her luck. It had to be what was keeping them on each other's paths.

"You should be asleep, Boris. What could you possibly be thinking about at this hour?" She asked, leaning over to look him in the eye.

He avoided her face, studying the fire as if it would help him explain. She had never seen his face so serious, even at the prospect of entering space.

"I was thinking of the past, сладкий горох. I was giving Hans a proper memorial, if only in my mind." He looked up at her, ready to share everything with a certain hunger in his eyes. "At sixteen, I was recruited by the Russian Government after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first Russian in space. I was training for four years to be a soldier before I was surprised to be honored with my new position at the Komkolzgrad Cosmodome at eighteen. They needed a young recruit who they believed could take the strain of testing and space travel, and I was their candidate. I met Hans after he had already been staying in Komkolzgrad for sixteen years. He had been rebuilding the iron mines to accommodate his automatons before he transferred over to begin building the spring-loaded launcher.

"For eighteen years, we were lead to believe it was all for space, but we were wrong. When Hans left, they put me in charge of guarding the place, with barely any contact afterward. I was forgotten and so was my precious years spent fighting for a lost cause." Boris looked down at his rough hands, the sadness in his eyes telling her he still remembered how they looked at eighteen. Even after years of vodka. "I am an old man now, without wife or child. My best friend is dead and my country has forgotten me. You and my memories are all I have left, Kate. Please, let me come with you. I will follow behind you until my body gives out, even if that is tomorrow or forty years from now." Reaching over, he gently took Kate's hands in his and looked up at her. His eyes were glassy from holding back tears. "I had been alone for twenty-three years before you showed up and gave me my wings. Don't make me watch the only miracle I've ever had walk out that door. You followed Hans to the ends of Siberia; let someone follow after you now."

Kate felt her face flush, his warm hands giving her goose bumps. "That is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." She laughed softly to herself, feeling the weight on her shoulders lift at the thought of being someone else's miracle. Hadn't she been Hans and Oscar's? She had never been Dan's, obviously.

Slipping her hands from his, Kate slipped from the arm and leaned over him to kiss his forehead. Her lips lingered there long enough to make his ears flush redder than his face. She was surprised when he took her around the waist and brought her close. His still strong arms held her tightly as Boris buried his face into her shoulder and shuddered just a little. Twenty-three years was a long time to go without human contact.

Kate felt herself choke on the pain welling up behind her eyes. "You can come along for as long as you can stand me." She whispered in his ear.

She could hardly bite back her tears when he muttered into her neck. "Then you have me for life, сладкий горох."

* * *

_* sweet pea_

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait for an update. If you're a regular reader of mine, you know that's pretty much the usual for my chapters. I write when I feel the inspiration. Oh and please let me know if the Russian is wrong, I pretty much threw it in a translator and I know they aren't perfect.


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